The new campaigns tells New Yorkers not to mind their own business if they suspect abuse.View Full Caption

DNAinfo/Jill Colvin

“We know that victims of domestic violence are often so terrorized and afraid, it’s hard for them — and sometimes maybe even impossible for them — to reach out for help,” she said.

“We’re asking New Yorkers to do something they’re pretty good at. We’re asking them not to mind their own business."

The ads, which began appearing on bus shelters, phone kiosks and newsstands across the city Tuesday morning, have been printed in three languages — English, Spanish and Russian — to reflect communities with the highest rates of violence, officials said.

Unlike the city's recent anti-obesity, anti-smoking and anti-binge drinking campaigns, the new ads rely on words instead of graphic images.

NYPD responses to domestic violence incidents have been on the rise across the city, increasing from 234,988 responses (or more than 600 a day) in 2008, to 257,813 (more than 700 a day) last year.

At the same time, the number of family-violence-related deaths has spiked from 63 in 2009 to 92 in 2011 — a 46 percent jump.

Most of the cases involved individuals who had never previously been reported to police, Kelly said.

To combat the trend, the NYPD has recently stepped up efforts, adding 32 new sergeants to supervise domestic violence efforts, and re-instituting Domstat, a system modeled after CompStat, to track cases and their handling.

The department has also extended its outreach to high-risk victims, including working with them to produce a book with information including a personalized safety plan, a list of places to go in case of emergency, and code words for alerting friends and family.

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